


The Donkey and The Orb

by Destiel_Sabriel4eva



Series: Von Dougall [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Both religions are again only vaguely mentioned, Cake Gone Wrong, Christianity, Evil, F/M, Getting Together, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Rivalry, Implied Sexual Content, Like, Lily Evans Potter can't cook, M/M, Mild Language, Paganism, Pocket Dimension, Prompt Fic, Protective Remus Lupin, Pureblood Lily Evans Potter, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Truth or Dare, We Need a New Oven, Werewolf - Mentioned, Young Remus Lupin, crystal balls, mild homophobia, very mildly with that last tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 06:16:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17360579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destiel_Sabriel4eva/pseuds/Destiel_Sabriel4eva
Summary: Lily and Remus have been dating in secret for eight months and they're getting quite sick of never being alone together. An accident with a Crystal Ball is going to give them a lot more time alone than they ever thought possible.





	1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter_ **

  
  

 

“Rem!” Lily calls excitedly as Remus opens the door to his cottage.  Just for a change in things, Lily came to his place in an effort to not jinx themselves.  It’s the last day of the summer hols before they begin seventh year and so far, nothing bad has happened since the Powermatch eight months ago.  Lily will be staying overnight and then heading to the Hogwarts Express with the Lupins who she is yet to meet.

“Hey Lils,” Remus greets with a bright-eyed grin.  The two share a brief kiss before he brings her into the loungeroom where his parents are.  “Mam, Nhad, this is Lily.  Lily, Hope and Lyall Lupin,” Remus introduces.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs Lupin.  Remus has told me all about you two,” Lily tells him, smiling nervously.

“It’s lovely to meet you too, dear,” Hope tells her, walking over and giving her a hug.

Lyall just looks her over for a minute, “So you know about Remus’… _condition_?” He asks.  Hope and Remus exchange worried looks which do _not_ go unnoticed by Lily.  She swallows anxiously and nods.  He just ‘Hmph’s and walks out.

Remus sighs when Lily looks to him in confusion, “Dad doesn’t understand why you’d want anything to do with me, let alone be _with_ me, if you know I’m a Werewolf.  I don’t think he really believed me when I said you know.”

Lily frowns and hugs him tightly, “I want everything to do with you.”

He smiles and hugs her back, “I know.”

The door suddenly opens again and a bald teenager walks in.

“Mornin’ all,” He says.

Remus rolls his eyes and huffs, “Morning Bob.”

“Erm, isn’t that –”

“The Ravenclaw that Peter hangs out with?  Yes.  Yes, it is.”  Lily looks confused as Remus leads her further into the house.  “He lives down the road, Mam recognised him when Pete brought him over at 9 ¾ on the 1st.  _Insisted_ we start having more to do with the family no matter _what_ Dad and I say.  And when Nhad and I begin agreeing on something, that’s when you _should_ listen.  Now Bob just comes over whenever he likes and Mams all happy that he feels so at home.”  Remus rolls his eyes again.  They watch as Bob went over to the kitchen, sat down, and made himself a sandwich.

“Evanfs, wha’re you foing her?” Bob asks mid-bite.

“Oh – err – just visiting a friend.  Well, not a _friend_ perse, fellow prefect more like.  Erm, study partner, if you will.  We –”

“Are shagging and don’t want Potter to know?” Bob asks.  Lily turns beet red as she starts stuttering repudiations.  Bob swallows his mouthful, “I’m a Ravenclaw, Honey.  I’m not going to fall for some half-assed lie.  Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.  I owe Remus a secret kept anyway.” 

Lily raises an eyebrow at Remus who seems relieved, so she assumes he’s telling the truth.  She clears her throat, “Thank you.”

Bob shrugs, “You know, Ghandi always said, ‘What goes around, comes around.”

“Erm, I don’t think Ghandi sai-” Lily begins to refute, but Remus just shakes his head.  “Lovely to properly meet you,” She says instead as Remus begins leading her away.

Remus shows her to the spare room so that she can put her trunk away.  “Sorry about that,” He tells her.

“I can’t tell if he was kind of sweet or if he was the devil in disguise.”

“He was, the devil in disguise.”

 

The next day finds the Lupins and Lily at the train platform where Lily and Remus stand at an appropriate distance apart, but unwilling to go any further. 

“This is it.  Another term, hiding.”

Remus frowns, “We could tell them, you know.  I’d take any heat from Prongs for you.”

“I know you would, but I don’t want to put you in that position, not while you’re living with them.”  Remus sighs and nods.  Lily smiles at him gently, “One more year and we’re out of there, Babe.  One more year, and we can be _anyone_ we want to be.”

Remus smiles back and nods, “One more year.”

 

 

“C’mon, Moonpie.  It’s our last year!  You gotta join in!” Sirius pleads.

“Exactly, it’s our _last_ year.  The last thing we need is to be expelled!  James, you’re head boy, you’re _supposed_ to be setting an example,” Remus tells him sternly.

“One game of Truth or Dare, Moons.  Just _one_ game,” James requests.

Remus continues glaring at them for thirty seconds before he rolls his eyes and joins the group on the floor of the common room in a circle.  The group which includes the Marauders, _Bob_ , Marlene McKinnon (A Gryffindor in their year), Mary McDonald (Another Ravenclaw but in the year below them.  Also, Lily’s best friend and the only one to know about she and Remus dating), Frank Longbottom (Gryffindor form their year that they’ve decided to include more because his girlfriend, Alice, graduated last year) and, to Remus’ intense surprise, Lily Evans.

“They roped you into this as well?” He asks her.

She shakes her head, “No, Mary did.”

“You know, Ghandi always said ‘Same dif.’”  Peter snickers at Bob while Remus and Lily rolls their eyes in unison.

“Dude seriously, are you okay?” Mary asks him.

“What an intense question –”

“It really wasn’t –”

“I had an odd dream last night that I woke up this morning as a tree.  What the??? And you know what caused me to be a tree?”  Everyone shakes their heads with varying levels of curiosity and exasperation.  “Magic Squirrels!”

“Are magic squirrels even a thing?” Marlene asks.

“ _NO_ , they most certainly are _not_ a thing!” Remus replies heatedly.

“Well Xenophilius Lovegood said –”

“Oh, well if _Xenophilius Lovegood_ said so, it _must_ be true.  Not like the guy is the living definition of delusional or anything,” Remus interrupts, some of the group snicker at the insult while Lily looks disapproving.

“Why don’t we just play the game?” Peter timidly suggests.

 

A few rounds later, the inevitable comes up.

“Mary, truth or dare?” Sirius asks.

“Dare,” Mary replies, a challenging look in her eye that has Remus face-palming before the dare has even been set.

“I dare you to kiss Marlene.”

“Seriously, Padfoot?” Remus asks him, removing his hand from his face in order to glare at his friend.

“What?  I’m just spicing things up a little.”

“We’re all adults now, will you grow-up?”

“What’s the point of being grown-up if you can’t act childish every now and then?” Sirius asks him.

“It’s fine, Remus.  Marls, I’m game if you are,” Mary says to the shock of everyone.

Marlene rolls her eyes but nods so the two kiss briefly.  Sirius seems very happy with himself.

“Right, let’s make this more interesting,” James decides.

“How so?” Frank asks, frowning in concern. 

James gets up and goes to the common room desk, grabbing paper and a pen.  “Padfoot, can you grab the donkey and the peacock?”

“Erm, sure?” Sirius replies, going to the dorm.  It’s as he gets to the bottom of the stairs that understanding dawns on him, “ _Oh_ , oh Prongs that’s going to be hilarious,” He says, hurrying up to grab the requested items.

“Donkey and Peacock?” Lily asks Remus who sighs.

“They _were_ money boxes.  But we… _converted_ their use.  We all put a possible target into the donkey and a prank idea into the peacock and then pull them out at random.  Makes things more interesting,” Remus explains.  Lily looks disapproving again but simply shakes her head without comment.

“Right but, in this case, we’re going to put truths in the Donkey and dares in the Peacock so that they can’t be tailored or altered, and no one will know who came up with them,” James explains as Sirius returns.

“This sounds like a recipe for disaster,” Frank says, but still takes the paper and helps pass it around.

“Everyone write down two each to start with and, if it doesn’t work, we’ll go back to what we were already doing.” 

Everyone gets writing and then puts their slips of paper into the appropriate box.

“Right, Remus, you go first,” Sirius tells him.

“What?  Why me?”

“Because you haven’t had a go in ages.”

Remus rolls his eyes but pulls a dare from the peacock.  “Seriously?” He asks, reading it.  Everyone looks at him expectantly.  He huffs, “Sneak into the potions classroom and take a pickled Newt’s eye.  Lily, you’ve gotta be against stealing, back me up here.”

Lily smirks at him, “Professor Slughorn _does_ have an abundance of them.”

“I don’t even know what a pickled Newt’s eye looks like!  We all know I flunked My Potion OWL, right?”

“So, Evans can go with you,” Sirius says with a shrug.

Remus huffs again, “Fine,” He says as he gets up.  Lily gets up to go with him.

 

“I cannot believe you are willing to do this,” Remus mutters.

“What, don’t want to be alone with me, Babe?”

Remus narrows his eyes at her while opening the door to the potions room and going to the ingredients shelf.  “All right, where’s this Pickled Eye thing.”

Lily inspects the shelf, frown growing with every irrelevant jar she checks.  “Not where it usually is.”

Remus putters around the place as she searches, eventually looking through Slughorn’s desk.

“Remus!” Lily chastises when she sees what he’s doing.

“At least _I’m_ not planning on taking anything.  Not from the desk anyway.”  Lily rolls her eyes at him and keeps looking through the jars.  Remus opens the door to the small desk cabinet and finds a crystal ball inside.  “What’s Slughorn got a crystal ball for?”

Lily walks over to him, “A what?  Slughorn _hates_ divination.  Thinks it’s all wishy-washy crap.  I mean, he’s not wrong.  No one can predict God’s plan.  But that’s beside the point.”

Remus decides not to address the comment; Lily’s strong Christian beliefs vs Remus’ Paganism has been a minor point of contention in the eight months they’ve been together.  “It looks more like Snow Globe,” Remus realises, “There’s a model Hogwarts in it but there’s all this fog covering it.”  For a moment, Remus thinks he sees some dark face in the fog, but blinks and it’s gone.

“Let me see,” Lily requests.  Remus grabs the Crystal Ball, pulling it out.  Lily goes to take it, but the moment both their hands touch the ball, there’s a blinding flash of light.

When the light fades, the Potions classroom is empty and the crystal ball falls to the ground with a loud and solid thud.


	2. Chapter 2

Lily wakes up with a groan, looking around and realising she is on the floor of the Potions classroom.  After a moment, she remembers what happened and looks to the side of her.  She finds Remus and shakes him.  “Babe, wake up,” She says as she shakes him.

“Five more min’es,” He complains, but nevertheless opens his eyes.  He smiles up at her, “You really are beautiful.”

Lily blushes, “You aren’t so bad yourself, you know.”

Remus ignores the comment as he pushes himself up right.  He too then remembers what happened and looks over the floor.  “Where’s the ball?”

“I…don’t know,” Lily says as she notices it’s nowhere around, “Maybe we should just head back to the others.  I think it’s time to call it a night.”

“Agreed.”

 

The two head back to the common room and find it empty.  “Guess they got tired of waiting.  Must’ve been out for a while,” Remus suggests, rubbing at his head.

“Riiiiight…well this has been an odd night.”

“Yeah.  See you in the morning?” Remus asks, Lily nods and leans up.  Remus grins before he leans down and kisses her sweetly.  They rest their foreheads together for a moment before going their separate ways.

Remus climbs the stairs to his dorm and goes in.  He’s sat on his bed taking his shoes off before he notices the absence of Peter’s snoring.  With a frown, he takes a closer look at the beds in the room.  The empty beds.

On a hunch, he checks the other boys’ dorms.  All of them are empty.

Remus runs down to the common room just as Lily gets there too, they look to each other in panic.

“Why didn’t you pick the donkey, you idiot?!”

 

“What if Dumbledore isn’t there?” Lily asks as she and Remus head towards the Headmaster’s office.

“Then we’ll find McGonagall.”

“Remus, there is _no one_ here.  The castle is empty.”

“We don’t know that, not until we speak to Dumbledore.  We only know that Gryffindor Tower is empty.”  Lily looks at him, fear clear on her face.  “If we can’t find Dumbledore, we’ll go to Hogsmeade.  There’s _got_ to be people there.”

Lily nods, “Okay.  Okay.”

 

 

Remus and Lily make it to Dumbledore’s office and open the door to find it empty.  As the two look around for clues, Lily gasps.  “Babe?”

Remus looks over, following her arm as it points until he sees what she’s looking at.

She’s pointing at a portrait.

An empty portrait.

The two look at each other in horror.

“What the _actual_ fuck?”

 

 

James and Marlene burst into the Headmaster’s office, finding him sitting at his desk.

“Headmaster!  I’m sorry, I know we shouldn’t have been doing it, we shouldn’t even be awake, but now they’re gone and there was a weird ball thing, and who knows _what’s_ happened to them, they could be dead for all we know!” Marlene all but shouts.

Dumbledore blinks at her, “Mr Potter?”

“Evans and Remus were doing a dare and never came back.  We went looking for them but all we found was a crystal ball on the floor.  They’ve been missing for over an hour.”

“Where were they last you knew?”

“They were heading to the potions classroom,” Marlene tells him.

The headmaster’s eyes widen, “And that’s where you found this Crystal Ball?” He asks forcefully.

“Yes, Sir,” James replies.

“Miss McKinnon go and wake Professor McGonagall.  Mr Potter, wake Professor Slughorn.  I shall meet all four of you in the classroom.”

“Yes, Sir,” Both students say before they rush off to do as they were told.

“Sounds like trouble, big trouble, if that ball is what I think it is.”

Dumbledore frowns, “Yes, Phineas.  Big trouble indeed.”

 

 

Remus and Lily walk to the front entrance of the castle in silence, holding hands for comfort.

Lily opens the door, both stepping out.

Remus’ eyes widen, “I-I know where we are.”

“What are you talking about?” Lily asks.  Remus just nods ahead.  Lily turns and sees nothing but fog and an odd horizon that seemed quite dome-shaped.  Then it clicks, “WE’RE _IN_ THE CRYSTAL BALL?!” She screams.

Remus sees something moving out of the corner of his eye and turns to look.  He sees a dark cloud moving throughout the sky, only it’s not a cloud.  Remus catches sight of some kind of shrouded claw and suddenly remembers the face he’d seen in the crystal orb.  “Lily, Lily inside.  NOW!” He screams as the face comes into view, spots them, and starts swooping towards them at high speed.

The two get inside, shutting the door as something comes into contact with it.

They look at each other.  Lily gives a terrified smile, “Guess we aren’t alone in here after all.”

 

 

McGonagall and Marlene enter the Potions Classroom to find Slughorn, James, and Dumbledore already inside along with the other students who had played the game.

“Albus?” McGonagall asks.

“It’s the Orb, Minerva.  Miss Evans and Mr Lupin were pulled in.”

“Oh…oh, no…” McGonagall says, looking at the Crystal Ball in question.

“Professors, please, what is it?” Frank asks nervously.

“It is…” Dumbledore trails off, looking them over.  “A pocket universe, of sorts.  Within the orb is an alternate Hogwarts.  The Orb…is history.  All we know of it are from papers written in the time of the Founders.  It is said to be…inescapable.”

“But then, how do we get them out?” James asks with a frown that he won’t admit is not concern but fright.

Dumbledore shares a look with his fellow Professors.  “We can’t.”

“Wait, why would someone make a crystal ball – orb – whatever – that sucks people in and traps them for the rest of their lives?” Mary asks, trying to sort everything out in her head.

“We do not know.  Rowena Ravenclaw herself left explicit instructions that the Orb was never to be touched, and for over a thousand years, no one did.”

“We can’t just leave them in there!” Marlene shouts.

“Calm yourself, Miss McKinnon.  Of course, we will not,” McGonagall tells her sharply.

“Yes, of course.  We will begin searching for an answer immediately,” Slughorn adds.  He and McGonagall leave, presumably to the library.

“Professor, they _will_ find something, won’t they?” Mary asks, the sixteen-year-old asks fearfully.

Dumbledore has a grave look on his face before he calmly replies, “I have attempted my own research into this orb many years ago.  If there are any books that reference it, they are not within the castle.”  He leaves the room in a sweep of his robes, levitating the Orb out with him.

“They may not be in the castle, but I know where those books might be,” Sirius tells the others.

“Where?” Mary asks.

“The library at m-…at Regulus’ house.”

“Sirius, you only escaped from that place a year ago.  Are you sure you want to go back?” James asks him in concern.

“I’ve not got a choice.  We have to get Moony back.”

“How are you even going to get in?” Peter questions, unsure if he should be trying to talk his friend out of this or in to it.”

“I spent sixteen years of my life sneaking out of that place.  How hard can it be to sneak in?”

The others seem far more dubious than he.

 

“AHHHHHH!” Lily screams as she and Remus run down a corridor, windows shattering and showering them in glass.  The thing outside continues its howling that sounds something like wind yet also like some supersonic noise.  It shatters more windows trying to get to Lily and Remus.  Remus grabs Lily, pulling her down at a wall that breaks up the windows.

“We need a plan,” Remus tells her, eyes frantically wide as they dart back and forth trying to formulate a plan.

“We have to get to the library,” Lily tells him.

“The library?  Why?  It’s got more windows than anywhere else!”

“Not in the restricted section it doesn’t.”  Remus looks at her in shock, she sighs, “We need to find out what this thing is, what the Orb is, or we’ve no chance of getting out.”

Remus looks anxious, peering around the wall only to be assaulted by the creatures cry once more.  “ARRGHH,” He groans, clutching at his years.

“Remus?!” Lily calls.

Remus groans again, “I’m all right.  I mean, my ears are ringing.  But otherwise, I’m fine.”

“All right, you see that doorway there, we’re going to make a break for it,” Lily tells him, pointing across the hall.

“Lily that’s right within the windows line of sight, how are we going to get there without being fucking vaporised?”

“We’ll move quickly and stay low to the ground.”

“Do you even know where that door goes?” Remus asks her.

She sighs, “No, but it’ll be connected to something.  In this castle, eventually, everything is connected.”

Remus can’t really deny that, so he nods.  “Count of three then,” He suggests, she nods.  “One.”

“Two,” Lily says.

They look to each other and nod.  “Three!”

A quick dash later, Remus gets the door open, only for both to be pushed inside by some kind of shock wave.

“Get the door!” Remus shouts from where he’s skid across the floor.  Lily gets up from where she had landed and almost trips getting up before she throws herself at the door, shutting it and sliding to the ground.

“You all right?” She asks him.

“Yeah, peachy,” Remus replies.

“Ineptus!” Remus and Lily jump around in fright, Remus yelping when they come face to face with an old man.  “ABSOLUTA INSULSI, UT NIHIL SIBI MANDATUM STULTI?!”

“Err, Lily, dear, do you happen to speak Latin?” Remus asks her.

“I know how to insult people, which means I understood quite a bit of that,” Lily replies. Remus nods, unsurprised.  “Quid fatuus?” Lily tries.  He looks incredibly offended, “No, not you.  Us, _us_ ,” She says, gesturing between them.

The man huffs impatiently and pulls a wand out of his robes.  “Locutus sum lingua interpretari,” he casts.  “Now,” He says to the shock of the other two, “What do you fools think you are doing?!” He shouts angrily.  “I did not sacrifice my freedom for you imbeciles to render yourselves trapped here with me!”

“Erm, listen, Sir.  This was an accident.  We just found this Crystal Ball in Hogwarts and –”

“Decided to touch a magical object with which you were unfamiliar?”

“Well…yes,” Remus replies awkwardly.  The old man seethes.

“Who are you?  What did you mean sacrifice your freedom?” Lily asks, intervening the man can continue shouting.

“This Orb, it is a prison.  There was a great evil, one none could defeat.  The others and I managed to imprison it within the Orb, but a sentry must remain to ensure the evil in ensnared,” He explains, suddenly stumbling.  Remus and Lily both move forth and catch him by the arms, lowering him onto a chair in the room.  “Ah, so that is why you are here,” He says, “My time as sentry has come to an end.  I suppose even the orb can only maintain my life for so long.”

“Please, Sir.  Who are you?” Remus presses.

The man smiles, tears in his eyes.  “A man with a burden, a dreadful burden.  One I have no choice but to pass on to the two of you.”  The two students exchange anxious looks before they look back to the man who is staring at Remus intently.  “I can pass the knowledge into you when I pass the veil, should you so desire.  But with it would be my memories of a life lived long ago.  The choice is yours, my Lad.”

“You mean you are going to die?” Lily asks, “No, we must be able to save you somehow.”

“My time is long over, Child.  Tell me, what became of Hogwarts?”

Remus frowns in confusion, “It’s still there.  We’re students there, in Gryffindor.”

The man chuckles, “That would explain the recklessness that landed you both here.”  Neither are sure whether it’s worth being insulted or not.  “But then, perhaps the courage you must possess will serve you better than the cunning that trapped me in this room.”  The man’s eyes begin falling shut despite his attempts to keep them open.

“Sir?” Lily asks in concern.

“It is time to make your decision, Lad,” The man tells Remus. 

He looks to Lily for a moment before turning back and nodding.  “We need to know.”

“Good luck,” He says in all but a whisper.  Then his eyes close, and he’s gone.

A sudden light comes from his third eye and attaches itself to Remus.  Remus gasps, then the light fades, and Remus collapses onto the ground.

“Remus!”

 

 

Hope, Lyall, Michelle, and Daniel walk into Dumbledore’s office at Hogwarts.

“Ah, thank you for coming Mr Lupin, Mrs Lupin, Mr Evans, Mrs Evans.”

“What’s going on, are Lily and Remus all right?” Michelle asks frantically as she clutches her husband’s arm.

Dumbledore looks at them all with sadness in his eyes.  “I’m afraid the two of them have gotten themselves trapped within an ancient artefact, one we do not yet understand.  Of course, Professors McGonagall and Slughorn are working tirelessly to find a way of freeing them but, I have no guarantee that there _is_ a way.  Only that we will do our best to find one.”

“And if you can’t?  If you can’t find this mysterious way that may or may not exist?” Hope demands angrily.

“Then your children will remain trapped,” Dumbledore replies sagely.

“That is not good enough, Headmaster,” Lyall tells him aggressively.

“Oh, don’t pretend you care any,” Daniel snaps at the man, “You won’t even allow your Son home for Christmas.”

“You know _nothing_ of our family, or my relationship with my Son,” Lyall bites back.

“We are well aware of your Son’s illness, and the coldness and cruelness you have treated him with since he was infected,” Michelle tells him, “Do not think for a moment you have gotten away with it.  But for now, it does not matter.”

“Actually,” Hope speaks up timidly, “I think it may matter an awful lot.”  Everyone looks to her in confusion.  “This artefact, is there a way Remus will be able to lock himself away from Lily if they are still in there when the full moon rises?”  The parents look around in mild horror.  “It is only four days away, Headmaster Dumbledore.  Please, Remus would never forgive himself if he harmed her.  You _have_ to find a way.”

“I will do everything I can, Mrs Lupin, to ensure the safety of my students.”

Hope isn’t convinced he meant that at face value.

 

Remus groans as he rolls over, pushing himself upright.  “Lily?” He calls.

“I’m here,” She replies from where she sits on the wall across from where she has laid the body of the man.

“How long was I unconscious?” 

“I don’t know.  Maybe fifteen minutes?”  Remus nods, leaning back against the wall adjacent to the one Lily’s is sitting at.  Lily continues staring at the man.  “Who was he?  You have his memories, right?  You must know who he was.”

Remus nods, “That man, who insulted our Gryffindorness,” He says with a slight chuckle, “Was Salazar Slytherin.”

“ _What_?!” Lily asks incredulously.

Remus nods, “The ‘others’ that he was referring to, they were the other founders.”

“You have the memories of Salazar Slytherin inside your mind?” Lily asks him.

“Yep,” He replies, popping the ‘p’.

“You aren’t going to start hating Muggle-borns, are you?”

“He didn’t _hate_ Muggle-borns.  He just didn’t think they should be taught at Hogwarts.  _Why_ am I defending that?  No, no I am not going to start hating Muggle-borns,” Remus tells her, pressing the heel of his palm to his forehead.  “Everything’s just…moving fast, right now.”

“How do we get out of here?” Lily questions quietly.

Remus frowns, looking at her and then to the ground.  “He spent over a year of his life trying to make this Orb inescapable by what he considered pure evil.  He never looked for a way out.  Never planned to leave.”

Lily nods, seeming rather shell-shocked if the blank look on her face and far away gaze as she stares at Salazar is any indication.  “It’s been quiet outside for a while.  I think the creature, whatever it is, moved on.”

“Then we should get out of here while we can,” He suggests, standing and holding a hand out to his girlfriend.  Lily looks at it, then at him.  She stares intently for a moment before nodding and taking his hand.

 

Sirius creeps into the Gryffindor Common Room and finds the others waiting anxiously.  He pulls off James’ cloak and drops the book he brought back with him onto the coffee table.  “I found something, and it’s not good.”

The group go to Dumbledore’s office where they find he and McGonagall.

“Professors, we ignored you when you said to leave this to you.  But, before you get annoyed, we did find something,” James declares as they walk into the room.

McGonagall narrows her eyes at them all but nods for them to go on.

Sirius opens the book to the page he dog-eared and puts it on the desk in front of them.  “Tempus dilatatio extremitates.  It took me a while to translate but, it means –”

“Time dilation,” Dumbledore interrupts.

“I still don’t understand what that means,” Marlene complains.

“It means,” Bob begins, “That time passes differently within the Orb.”

“In this case, faster,” Sirius adds.

“Right so, they’ve been gone a day, here.  But for them, it’s been much longer,” Mary concludes.

“How much longer?” Frank asks.

Sirius sighs, “I don’t know.  The passage doesn’t say what the time differential is, only that there is one.”

“So, they could’ve been in there for days already, or even weeks?” James asks incredulously.

“Prongs, they could’ve been in there for _months_.”

 

 

The two trapped teenagers scour through books in the library.

“This is hopeless,” Lily complains, “We’ve been searching this bloody library for two months and we’ve found _nothing_.  Let’s just face it, we’re going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives which, if Salazar is any indication, could _literally_ be _centuries_.”

Remus sighs, dropping his head into the book open on his bent knees.  “I know.”

Lily looks over in surprise, “I was expecting you to break into some uplifting speech.”

“I’m well aware of how fruitless this search has been.  It’s been two months, if anyone from the outside world were gonna find a way to help us, they would have already.  They’re as lost as we are and at some point, probably soon if they haven’t already, they’ll give it up as a lost cause.”

“…Remus, it’s been two months,” Lily says suddenly.

“Yes…we just went over this.”

“No, I mean, I mean it’s been two months, as is two lunar cycles.  You haven’t transformed.”

Remus looks up in shock, “The moon must not affect me in here.”  He seems to digest this for a moment, “If we do spend the rest of our lives in here, that means I’ll spend the rest of my life never needing to worry abut my condition ever again.”  Then he grins, “You’re right Lils.  This research _is_ hopeless.”

“Why do you look excited by that?”

“Because, we’ve got the run of the castle.  No rules, no Professors, no consequences.  So, why are we holed up here trying to find information that is nowhere to be found?  We could be doing _anything_.  If this is going to be our lives for the foreseeable future, let’s not spend it here.”

Lily looks at him, a grin slowly spreading across her face.  She jumps up, holding her hand out.  “Let’s go.”

 

“I hate to tell you this, but we skipped like seven steps.  I don’t think this cake is going to turn out how we wanted,” Remus says, staring at the cake baking in the fire oven.

“What’s the worst that can happen, really?” Lily asks. 

The cake explodes over both of them and the rest of the room, bright purple goop covers everything, and the oven is in pieces.

“ _Why_ would you _say_ that?!”

“Yeah, that – uh – that’s on me.”

 

“Right, so then Bob unstuck himself from the ceiling and shook his hand, ‘Pleasure to finally meet you’.” 

Lily laughs, “If that’s how he and Lyall first met, I’m surprised he was ever allowed back.”

 

Lily and Remus lay on Dumbledore’s desk, nothing but a blanket covering them.  “I still can’t believe you’ve always wanted to do that.”

“What?” Lily asks, “Who wouldn’t want to secretly have sex in the Headmaster’s office?  It just seemed like the _ultimate_ rule break.”

Remus chuckles, “Well since it’s apparently everyone’s fantasy, and as a Marauder I _have_ to take the chance to do the _ultimate_ rule break, I think that now we’ve fulfilled your dream of it, we should now fulfil my dream of it.”

Lily grins, pushing herself up to look down at him, “Oh _do_ you now?”

 

“So,” Lily says as the two sit on top of the Gryffindor table eating ice-cream out of a tub with two spoons, “Seeing as we’re stuck in here forever, you might as well tell me what secret you’re keeping for Bob that saved our hides.”

Remus snickers, “It’s the real reason I let him stay around so much.  He and Peter aren’t friends.”

“What?” Lily asks in confusion.

“They’re dating.”

Lily’s eyes widen, “Peter’s a…a _homosexual_?”

“Oh, please tell me that doesn’t offend your delicate Christian sensibilities.”

“It’s not exactly natural, is it?” She replies snippily.

“What could possibly be more natural than love?” Remus challenges gently. 

Lily holds his gaze for a moment, then she nods slowly.  “No, you’re right.  I mean, if you hadn’t told me I’d have never even known or questioned it.”

“Exactly, still the same Pete you knew yester…day…” Remus trails off, looking into the tub.

“We can’t stay here forever,” Lily voices what they are both thinking.

“Back to the library?”

Lily smirks, “Let’s take the ice-cream.  No food in the library can be the next rule we break.

“Lily Evans, you are a proper delinquent.”

They laugh as they go to the library.

 

 

“I’m so sorry,” Marlene says as the group sits in Greenhouse Three, skipping class for the day though they doubt any teacher’s will question their absence.

“Sorry?” Sirius asks her.

“It was my stupid dare.  They’re stuck in that stupid Orb and it’s all my fault.”

“Hey, hey, no.  Marls look at me,” Sirius requests, kneeling in front of her.  Marlene looks up at him.  “It’s not your fault.  It could have been any of us, any dare.  There was nothing in it that suggested that touch that Orb.  It’s _not_ your fault.”

Marlene looks unconvinced but nods before she drops her head onto Sirius’ shoulder.  He wraps his arms around her, holding her close as the others remain in depressed silence.

 

Lily and Remus walk through the halls of Hogwarts, no real rush.

“I think it’s in here,” Remus says, leading her into the staffroom. 

“There’s a window so let’s make this quick,” Lily tells him, immediately searching for the paper that should tell them what the passwords for the other common rooms are.

Remus searches the cabinet near the broken window first to get it out of the way.  “Nothing here,” He says.  As he stands, his wand knocks against the top of the cabinet and flings out of his hand and straight out of the window.  On instinct, he goes to reach it and falls out of the window himself, managing to snag the ledge just in time.

“Remus!”

“I’m here, I’m okay,” He yells to her.  Then he sees the dark cloud that turns towards him.  “Not okay, not okay!  LILY RUN!”

“I’M NOT LEAVING YOU!” She shouts, seeing what he saw.

The creature screams at them, Lily ducking behind a wall as she drops to the ground with her hands over her ears.

Remus ducks his head as best he can, glad the danger seems to go over his head.  Remus quickly inches along the ledge, making it to the window next to the one he fell out of.  Taking a deep breath, Remus lets go with one hand so that he can use his wand.  With great difficulty, he points his wand at the window, “ _Alohomora!_ ” Remus reaches up, shoving the window open, throwing his wand in, and then grabbing the ledge with both hands again.

“REMUS!  IT’S COMING THIS WAY!”

“I’M COMING IN THE NEXT ROOM, GET OUT OF THERE!” He yells back.  Remus feels his breath coming faster before he tries to pull himself up and into the room, glad for Werewolf strength.

He drops to duck below the window just as the windows above him are shattered.  He takes a moment, “Okay.  One, two, three,” He tells himself before dashing to the door and grabbing his wand on the way…only to find it locked.  Before he has a chance to unlock the door, he has to duck out of the way of the creature’s cry.

“Remus?!” Lily calls through the door.

An idea presents itself in his mind, “Lily get away from the door!”  Remus stands in front of the door, looking the creature in its eye.  “Come on then, beastie.”  He sees it’s mouth open grotesquely.  He waits until it’s _just_ started to scream before he drops to the ground and lifts his wand. “Abducet infixum!” He casts.  The creatures scream is diverted to target the door exactly.  The door shatters and Remus drags himself across the ground and out of the room, joining Lily in hiding behind a wall.

“How did you know that spell?” She asks him.

“I didn’t.  Salazar Slytherin did.” 

Lily lets out a breathless laugh.  “Well, there’s good news,” She says, holding up a clipboard.  “Found the passwords.  Can’t believe it took us a year to think of this.”

Remus laughs along with her.

 

 

“It’s been two days,” Mary states despondently.  She and the others from the game sit in the Great Hall in the middle of the night, laying on the Gryffindor table and staring at the enchanted ceiling.

“We’re all well aware of that, thank you, Mary,” James tells her.

“Do you guys think maybe Dumbledore was right?” Frank asks them, “That maybe there really is no way to get them back?”

“What I think, and I mean this completely realistically, so no one jump down my throat,” Sirius begins, “What I think, is that it takes months or even _years_ of research to learn new magic in a lot of cases.  So, no, I don’t think Dumbledore was right.  I think it could very well be a long time before the way is found, but there will be one.”

“It will have been so long for them by then,” Mary whispers.

“The Professors will give up searching by then,” Bob tells the others.  The others all look at him in disgruntlement.  “What?  I’m being realistic as well.  They aren’t going to search for years to find a way to free them, not when Dumbledore says there isn’t a way to be found.”

“Well what do you _suggest_ then?” James asks.

“That we find a way ourselves,” Bob replies.

“McGonagall said we’d done enough damage already,” Peter mutters.

“Since when has that ever stopped you?” Bob asks, “Are you, or are you not, the Marauders?  Did you, or did you not, spend over a _year_ trying to learn a spell for a prank that was over in about thirty seconds just because you were _certain_ that no one had ever done it before?  Are you, or are you not, the same people to constantly claim that the Marauders have each other’s backs?  That you’ll stick together forever?”

Peter looks to the other two and nods, “He’s right.”

Sirius nods as well, “No man left behind.”

“Or woman,” Marlene throws in.  The three Marauders look at her in surprise.  “You aren’t the only ones who’ve got a friend in there.”

“Right,” Mary says, “We’re all in this together.  It started with our mistake, we’ll be the ones to fix it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own the song ‘I’m on my Way’_ **

 

“Four years today,” Remus says as he serves scrambled eggs onto the plates Lily has already put buttered toast on.

“Yes, I know.  Seems like a lifetime ago we were back in Hogwarts.  Well, with other people around, I mean,” Lily tells him with an amused smile. 

He wraps his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.  “I spent my life so worried for the future, for finding a job, for not being killed.  I never thought I’d be twenty-one and still in this castle.”

“Well, I hardly think this is something you could have planned for, Babe,” Lily tells him.

He chuckles and nods, “Touché,” He concedes, “Still, things could be worse,” He muses placing a hand on her distended stomach.   “Any day now,” He says quietly, reverently.

“Don’t I know it,” Lily says with a groan, “I love this kid, but I will be glad when it is no longer kicking the crap out of my kidneys.”  Remus chuckles, kissing her neck lightly in support.  “Rem…”

“Yes, my beautiful Lily-Flower?”

Lily frowns, looking down at her hands.  “I don’t want our kid to grow up here.  Not like this.”

Remus lifts his head, coming around to be beside her so that they can face each other.  “What do you mean?”

“We’ll die one day, Rem, just like Salazar did.  Then she’ll be alone here.”

Remus sighs, nodding.  “Lil…I agree with you.  But it’s been four years, there’s no way out of here.  Not without letting that _thing_ out too.”

“We can’t give up Remus, please.  Let’s look again.  We understand more of other languages now, maybe we can find something in books we’ve already read.”

He frowns, then nods, “Then, after breakfast, I’ll go to the library.  I don’t want you to stress about it though.  It’s not good for the baby.”

Lily rolls her eyes, “I’m pregnant, not an invalid.”

“If something goes wrong, we’ve got no healer, Lils.  Please, take it easy,” He tells her, walking out of the room to go hunt through the library again.

Lily nods, “Yep, that’s a real stress-reducing thought, thanks for that Babe,” She mutters to herself, rubbing her stomach lightly.

 

“What are we going to name her?” Lily asks, holding their child in her arms.

Remus looks at the child, eyes filling with tears as he’s overwhelmed with the love he feels.  “I’ve no idea.  How do you put a name to something so perfect?”

“What about Hope?  Your mother is a symbol of how to love a child no matter what challenges arise.” 

Remus smiles at that, nodding as the tears in his eyes fall, “Hope as the middle name.  What about Evana Hope Lupin?  After the family that loved you when they didn’t have to, and the Mother who loved me despite having every reason not to.”

Lily nods, crying now from sadness as she misses her family, and also happiness from the daughter asleep in her arms.  “Evana,” She says, then she grins, “We can call her Evie.”

Remus smiles lovingly, stroking the infants head.  “Evie.”

 

 

“Five days,” Sirius complains, ditching the book he is reading across the room, “It’s been five days and we’ve found _nothing_!”

“You’re the one who said it might take a while, Mon Amor,” Marlene reminds her now-boyfriend gently.

“Yes, I also said there’s a time dilation in effect.  Who knows how long it’s been for them now!  It could have been months!”

“Throwing a fit about it won’t save them,” James tells him sternly.

“They’re in a version of Hogwarts,” Mary states, suddenly closing the book she had been reading and looking down at it pensively.

“Yes?  And?” James asks.

“They’ve got the library in there.  They’ve got the books.  And they’ve potentially had months to look through it.”

Everyone looks at each other as they realise what Mary is hinting at.

“If there were something to find here…” Peter begins.

“They’d have found it already,” Frank finishes.

Sirius suddenly looks up, then he grins.  “Then let’s ask them.”  Everyone looks at him in surprise.  “I’ve got an idea.”

 

 

Evana slides down the bannister of one of the non-moving staircases in the castle she calls home, jumps off the end, and skips down the hallway towards the kitchen.

“Tell everybody I'm on my way  
New friends and new places to see  
With blue skies ahead yes  
I'm on my way  
And there's nowhere else  
that I'd rather be

Tell everybody I'm on my way  
And I'm loving every step I take  
With the sun beating down yes  
I'm on my way  
And I can't keep this smile off my face

'Cause there's nothing like seeing  
each other again  
No matter what the distance between  
And the stories that we tell  
will make you smile  
Oh it really lifts my heart,” She sings as she skips (Her Da loves this song, he sings it all the time.  She can’t help but wonder what a sun is, though, and why it beats down on people), wondering what her parents have made for lunch.  Suddenly there’s a bright light and she instinctually ducks behind a wall in case it’s the… _thing_.  After a moment, Evana pops her head around the corner, eyes fearfully wide.  She sees nothing for a moment, then she spots an object on the ground.  “Hello?” She calls out, but there is no answer.  Evana cautiously walks over to the object, bending down and picking it up.  Looking at it, she realises it’s a handheld mirror.  She tilts her head to the side in puzzlement before shrugging, tucking it into the sash of her dress, and continuing on her way.  “So tell 'em all I'm on my way  
New friends and new places to see  
And to sleep under the stars  
Who could ask for more  
With the moon keeping watch over me

Not the snow, not the rain  
Can change my mind  
The sun will come out, wait and see  
And the feeling of the wind in your face  
Can lift your heart  
Oh there's nowhere I would rather be

'Cause I'm on my way now-  
well and truly  
I'm on my way now.”

“There you are, Gumdrop,” Remus greets with a smile.

“Da, I found a mirror,” The six-year-old informs her Father.  “Look!” She says, thrusting it to him.

Remus drops the plate he had been holding, rushing over and taking it from her.

“Babe?  What is it?” Lily asks from across the kitchen at the dining room table they transfigured a chair into years ago after the Great Hall was destroyed by the creature.  Evana had nearly died that day, they’ve been very careful about windows since.  They won’t ever forgive themselves for being careless about it to start with.

“Sirius,” Remus says to the mirror.  Sirius comes into view.  “Padfoot?!” Remus calls desperately, but there is no reply and Sirius does not seem to be moving.

“Remus, what’s going on?” Lily asks, walking over.  She gasps as she sees the face in the mirror.

“It’s not working, why isn’t it _working_?!” Remus demands, shaking the mirror.

“Who’s that?” Evana asks her parents.

“A friend of mine,” Remus replies off-handedly.

“But you’re so old.  Why isn’t he?”

“I am not old, I’m twenty-seven!” Remus complains, looking away from the mirror.

“She makes a good point though, why _is_ he so young?” Lily asks.

“And why isn’t he _moving_?!” Remus asks frustratedly.

“Maybe he can’t.”

“What are you talking about, Lily?”

Lily takes the mirror from her husband (They’d had a ceremony between the two of them using an old ritual Remus found in Salazar’s memories that binded them together for eternity), “He’s young, we’re old.  We’re moving, he’s not.  This has only just arrived, we’ve been here for ten years.”

“Your point?” Remus asks in confusion.

“It’s been ten years for us,” Lily states.

“Yes, I know that.  I’ve been here too,” He says.

Lily rolls her eyes, “What if it hasn’t been that long for them?  I’m assuming this is some kind of communication device?” Remus nods.  “Why would it have taken a decade for Black to think to use it?  And why would he look as old as he was when we left?  What if that’s the reason no one’s come after us?”

“You think time in here is moving more quickly than out there?” Remus asks, Lily nods.  Then Remus’ eyes widen.  “Oh… _oh_ …Lily, I read that in a book!”  Remus goes sprinting out of the room, Lily about to follow when her daughter’s voice pipes up.

“Mummy, can we have lunch now?  I’m hungry.”

Lily looks at the doorway before turning around and smiling tightly at her daughter, “Of course, Evie.  Come on, I made pasta.”

“Shell pasta?” The little girl asks, eyes wide with hope.

Lily nods, smiling more genuinely, “Of course.  I’d never serve you subpar pasta.”

Evana giggles as she and her mother sit down to eat.

 

 

“So, this castle isn’t all there is out there?” Eleven-year-old Evana asks her parents.

“No, Evie, there’s a whole world out there,” Remus tells her.

“A world?” She asks in confusion.

“Erm, a lot of space.  A lot more than in here.”

“Oh.  Are we going to go there?”

“Well, that’s complicated,” Lily explains, “See, we want to but…well we haven’t quite worked out _how_ yet.”

“So…we’re trapped in here?” Evana asks, her parents nod.  “Oh.”

 

“Tell everybody I'm on my way  
And I just can't wait to be there  
With blue skies ahead yes  
I'm on my way  
And nothing but good times to share

So tell everybody I'm on my way  
And I just can't wait to be home  
With the sun beating down yes  
I'm on my way  
And nothing but good times to show  
I'm on my way,” Evie sings as she looks out a window.  Her parents don’t know she’s doing so, obviously.  They’d _flip_ if they knew.  But she had to see, to try and spot this world they’d spoken about through the fog surround their castle.  Evie sighs, thinking of the friends her parents left behind, “We’re on our way,” She promises.

 

“I can’t believe it didn’t work,” Sirius says, looking at the mirror disheartenedly.

“Well, it sort of did,” James tells him, looking at the very quickly moving shapes that seem like blurs and absolutely nothing distinguishable.  “It proved we can get things in there.  Then they’ll know we haven’t forgotten about them.”

“You can see how fast this is moving, can’t you?” Sirius asks, “It’s been ages for them.  How long would you make it alone in there before you gave up?”

Marlene walks into the room, catching that sentence as she does, “I don’t think they’re alone in there.”

James and Sirius look up in unison, “ _What_?!”

“I worked out what the Orb is,” Marlene explains as the rest of the group walks in, she having called them all together.

“What is it?” Mary questions as she takes a seat on Remus’ bed, everyone else on their own though Peter is joined sitting on his by Bob while Marlene stands before them all.

“A prison,” She replies, “A prison to hold something that the founders locked away a long time ago.”

“How did you find this out?” Bob asks.

Marlene winces, “Your family isn’t the only one with a collection of books on the Dark Arts.”  Everyone looks to her in surprise.  “The McKinnons may not _use_ what they learn, but we’re strong believers that to know is to be prepared to fight against.  Anyway, I had my brother look through them and he sent me this this morning,” She explains, holding up a book.  She opens it and begins to read aloud, “‘Though not much is known of the Orb, writings from Helga Hufflepuff show that this Orb was created by the four Great Founders of Hogwarts in a hope to lock away the greatest of all evils.  The name has been lost to centuries, but the face of true evil remains carved on the Orb’s base for all of eternity.’”

“W-What does this mean?” Peter asks nervously.

“It means we need to get them out,” James replies, “ _Soon_.”

 

 

It’s been twenty years for Remus and Lily.  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  They hide from the outside, trying to avoid this creature they were inadvertently chosen to guard.  They raise their daughter as best they can in isolation. 

“Is that a Philosopher’s Stone?” Evana asks as she looks closer at a picture in a book, “It is.”

“You sound like a character from an old cartoon,” Lily tells her sixteen-year-old daughter.  She then sticks her tongue out of her mouth, “Is that the Philosopher’s stone?  It is,” She says, it comes out warped because of her tongue.

“Cartoons are those moving stories you watch on the telly, right?” Lily nods.  “I’m suddenly not so sad I’ve missed out on that,” Evana says, laughing when her mother jokingly swats her arm.  “Mum…” She suddenly says, standing upright.  Lily looks over questioningly, “Mum I think I found something.”

“Found what?” Lily questions.

Evana looks at her Mother with wide eyes, “A way out.”

 

“Remus!” Lily calls as she and Evana run through the halls.  A sudden scream has Lily grabbing her Daughter by the back of her shirt and yanking her behind the cover of the way.  The windows in this corridor have been smashed since early on after Remus and Lily got here, it being practically the only corridor that _has_ windows, so it’s the wall behind the windows that crumble a little.

“Come on, we’ll go the long way,” Evana tells her mother.  Lily seems about to dash across and risk it when Evie grabs her arm.  “Mum,” She says, waiting until Lily looks at her, “It’s not worth it.  Let’s go around.”

Lily hesitates a moment longer, then nods.

 

“Da,” Evana calls as she and her Mother run into the Gryffindor Common Room.

“Evie?” Remus asks in concern.

“We found it, Remus,” Lily tells him, “We found a way home.” 

Remus frowns, “Evie, would you give your Mum and I a minute?”  Evana furrows her brows in confusion but nods and heads up to her room, which is really just a converted Dorm room, but it’s been hers for most of her life.

“Why aren’t you happy?” Lily asks her husband.

“Because I stopped looking a long time ago, when I realised that if we ever found out how to get out Evana wouldn’t be able to come with us.”

“What are you talking about?” Lily snaps.

Remus pinches the bridge of his nose, feeling every day of the thirty-seven years he’s now been alive weighing heavily on him.  “There’s a field surrounding the Orb.  That thing grows stronger the longer it is alive.  So, as a last line of defence in case it escaped, a spell was put on the Orb to make anything that leaves revert to the state it was in when it entered.”

“And Evana didn’t exist back then,” Lily says, looking down.

“Exactly.  Besides…there _has_ to be a sentry, or the creature is unleashed.  One of us would have had to stay behind anyway.”

Lily blinks away tears before she shakes her head, “No.  No, I’m not giving up.  We’ll find a way around it.”

“Li-”

“No, Remus!  _We’ll find a way_.”

Remus sighs, then nods.  “Of course, we will, Lily-Flower.  I’ll keep looking.”

“We all will,” Evana says from the staircase she had hidden on.

“You’re grounded,” Her parents say at once.

“What are you gonna do?  Prevent me from going outside?” Evana challenges.

“No cupcakes for a week, Cupcake,” Remus tells her sternly.

She sighs but nods.

 

 

“I’ve never been so tired in my entire life,” Marlene says with a yawn from where she is cuddling with Sirius on his bed, her head on his chest and his arm around her waist, “I’ve barely been able to sleep all week.”

“Same,” Sirius admits with a frown, “Why don’t you try and take a nap now?  I’ll be with you the whole time and I’ll wake you up if something happens.”

Marlene tilts her head up to smile at him, “Thank you, Sirius,” She tells him before snuggling further into his side.

Sirius wishes Remus were here to be proud of him for being so sweet and successfully maintaining a relationship for days now.  He can’t believe it’s been a full week since he and Lily disappeared.  He wonders how long it’s been for them.  “Sleep well,” he whispers, stroking Marlene’s hair lightly.

 

 

It’s a year for the three in the Orb before Remus walks into the kitchen, late for dinner, and puts a book on the counter.  “I’ve got it.  I know how to prevent the field from effecting Evie,” He tells them.

“Brilliant!” Lily says with a grin, it dies as she sees the complicated look on Remus’ face.  “One of us still has to stay behind, don’t we.”  It’s not really a question and he doesn’t bother to nod.

“It should be me,” Evana says, “I’ve got no life out there, I don’t even exist.”

“Out of the question,” Lily tells her.

“It’ll be me,” Remus says, “I’m not letting either of you stay behind.”

“What do you think is going to happen to me when we get out there?  It’s not like they’ll leave me in your care, and imagination the way we’d be seen.  How old were you two when you were pulled in here?”

Lily and Remus exchange looks.  “A few months older than you,” Lily replies.

“If I can’t be raised in the care of my parents then I-”

“You are _not_ staying behind.  But you’re right, we can’t let you just be taken away,” Remus says, sitting at the table and dropping his head into his hands.

“Then there’s only one option,” Lily states, nodding to herself, “Evana Lupin does not exist out there,” She says, “So you’ll have to take the place of someone who does.  And since one of us has to stay behind, it’ll be my place you take.”

“No, Li-” Remus begins objecting but Lily interrupts.

“We’ll make a Polyjuice potion.  I can charm some of my hair to keep growing after it’s been detached, you only need a tiny bit.  You’ll be able to keep making it for the rest of your life.”

“Mu-”

“No, this is the last hurdle.  You both see that, don’t you?  Once we make this potion, you two will be able to leave.  To live actual lives.”

“Lily even if we were to use a Polyjuice potion, your hair will make her look like you do now, not like you did then,” Remus points out.

“Which is why you’ll carry it and allow it to be affected by the barrier around the orb.  It will return to how it was, you will then place the charm on it.  Evie will be covered by a glamour charm.  That should hold up until you can duck out of the room to take the potion.”

“Lily, it should be me that stays.  I’m safe in here, out there I’m a mon-”

“You are _not_ a monster, Remus,” Lily tells him sharply, “It has to be me.  There’s no way Evana can imitate your voice.  She already sounds a lot like me, she sounds just like I did when I was young.”  Remus looks pained.  Lily takes his hand, leaning over to press their foreheads together.  “I’ve lived a _good_ and _happy_ life before we got trapped, and here with you, with both of you,” She says, looking over at her daughter.  “It’s Evie’s turn to live a full life now.  She can’t do that here, and this is the only way.”  Lily leans their foreheads together again.  “Please, Remus.  Do it for our daughter.”

Remus’ face screws up in anguish, tears falling.  He nods, “Okay…okay,” He says, moving to hug his wife close to him.  “Okay,” He says again.  Evana comes over and joins the hug.

 

One month later, the potion is complete.

“This is it,” Lily says, handing the potion to her daughter, who has been charmed to look like seventeen-year-old Lily, so that it would not be affected by the field.  She hands the hair she’d cut off and put in a freezer bag to her husband.  “Remus, promise me something.”

“Anything, Lily-Flower,” Remus tells her, a hand on her cheek.

She leans into the hand, “Go on with your life.  Don’t spend it pining after me.”

Remus frowns, looking down before he pulls away and grabs her wrist, holding it next to his.  “Bound for eternity, my Flower,” He reminds her, drawing her attention to marks on their wrists from the ritual that, when their wrists are put together like this, make an infinity symbol.  “I can’t make that promise.  Really, could you?”

Lily smiles sadly, “I suppose not.”

“Mum?” Evana asks tearfully.  Lily pulls away from Remus, opening her arms to her daughter who runs into them.  “Mummy, I don’t want to leave you.”

“You’ll be okay, Sweetheart.  You and your Da, you’ll stick together, and you’ll be okay.”  Lily hugs her daughter for another minute before she pulls back, smiling at them both and nodding.  “It’s time.”

Evana steps away from her mother to stand beside her Father, careful not to touch him.

“Rem,” Lily says, “Tell Wren…” She frowns, then she smiles sadly, “Tell him the Pied Piper has a dangerous creature to control so I can’t leave.  But don’t tell him any more than that or he’ll break me out regardless of any warnings given.”

Remus nods, “I will.  I promise.”

“And be brave, Cupcake,” Lily tells her daughter who nods.

“I will, Mum.”

“I love you both.”

Evana and Remus both reply, “We love you too,” At the same time.

Then Remus takes a deep breath and pulls out his wand, “Nos dimittere.”

 

 

“And then I think we can switch this topic,” Dumbledore is saying to McGonagall, “To be covered in Transfiguration.  I don’t think it really fits in with the Charms curriculum.”

“I-” McGonagall begins saying when a flash of blinding white lift fills the room, and suddenly two teenagers are on the floor of Dumbledore’s office.

Remus groans, pushing himself upright and immediately checking on his daughter.

Evie sits up as well, “It worked then?” She asks.

Remus looks up and sees his old Head of House.  He smiles and nods, “Yeah.  It worked.”


	4. Chapter 4

Remus and Evie are sat on beds in the hospital wing, Evana now under the effects of the Polyjuice potion instead of the glamour charm, when the doors suddenly open.

“MOONY!”  Sirius and James shout at the same time, sprinting over at the same time as the others do.

“Padfoot, Prongs,” Remus greets, suddenly overwhelmed by how much he has missed them.  He hugs them both, then pulls Peter in and hugs him too.

“You were in there a while, huh?” Frank asks.

Evana nods, “If Black hadn’t sent that mirror in, we may never have found out about the difference in the passage of time,” she explains, remembering how her Mother always refers to Sirius.

“How long _were_ you in there?” James questions.

“A…a long damn time,” Remus replies with a breathless chuckle.

“Well, we’re all just glad you’re back,” Mary tells them, walking over and hugging Evana who panics for a moment before hugging her back.

“Thanks, Mary,” Remus tells her, mainly so that Evana will know her name and know this is her mother’s best friend.

“Yeah, we missed you all like _crazy_.”

“Awh, Evans, I missed you _too_ ,” James says, hands on his heart.

Because her Father had called him Prongs before, Evana knows this is James Potter.  She doesn’t understand what her Mother’s problem with his infatuation is about, he’s _cute_.  “Is that why your hair is even more of a mess than usual?  Too worried about me to even _try_ and tame it?” She asks, trying to imitate her Mother’s sense of humour.

James grins at her, “Evans, how you wound me.”  But he keeps grinning like a git because she _smiled_ at him as she insulted him.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Remus interrupts, narrowing his eyes at his daughter and best friend flirting with each other.  Mary nudges him, sending him a significant look because she thinks the glare was because of his girlfriend and his best friend flirting.  He clears his throat, “Anyway, how long were we gone?  No one’s said.”

“A whole _week_ , Moons.  It was _torture_ , I was left alone with these animals,” Sirius dramatically relays, throwing himself onto the bed beside his friend.

“Animals, huh?” Marlene drawls.

“Oh, also, Marlene and I are dating now,” Sirius says with a sly look at the drink Remus had _just_ started taking a sip of.

Predictably, Remus spits it in surprise.  “Oh, my _what now_?!”

“That was even better than I was expecting,” Bob says, chuckling, “Mornin’ Lupin.”

“Morning Bob,” Remus says with a sigh.

Life was well and truly back to how it had been.


	5. Epilogue

“So, erm, Da,” Evana begins as she and Remus sit out in the courtyard of the castle, three months after they escaped the Orb.

Remus can’t help but wonder how long it’s been for Lily.  “Yes, Cupcake?”

“I know I’m meant to be acting like Mum but…”

“What did you do?” Remus asks sternly, “Or is this about the Severus incident again?”  Snape had called her a Mudblood after she’d attempted to help her Mother’s friend.  Evana never really liked him, but because her Mother apparently would have, she put up with him.  However, hearing him insult her mother like that was too much and she’s refused to talk to him since.  Remus knows that Lily would have forgiven Snape for it considering what James had done to him mere moments before, but Evana probably never will.  Everyone else seems relieved that ‘Lily’ has finally ditched Snape, Remus can see though that he is suspicious of her.  He knows her better than anyone seeing as they pretty much grew up together.

“It’s not about that slimy toad, no,” Evana replies, scrunching up her nose in distaste.  “James asked me out,” She explains.  Remus narrows his eyes, not liking where this is going.  “He hadn’t since I got here but Mum used to say he’d do it daily.  So I asked why he’s doing it now when he hasn’t in so long.  He said I’d been different since I came back from the Orb and…well he hadn’t wanted me to think he’s an arrogant toe-rag anymore, whatever that means.  He said that he’s seen a new side of me since I got back and he wants me to see a new side of him as well.  He likes _me_ , Dad.  Clearly more than he ever did Mum.”

Remus sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, “You said yes when he asked you out, didn’t you?”  Evana nods.  Her father shakes his head for a moment, “You are a grown woman and capable of making your own decisions,” He replies tightly, as though the words physically hurt him to say.

Evana grins and hugs him, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Remus smiles at his daughter and nods, “Whatever makes you happy, Cupcake.”

 

He’s not all that surprised when, two dates later, Evana comes to him and tells him she wants to tell James the truth about who she is.

Admittedly, he’s a little _more_ surprised than he perhaps should have been that James’ response to that was to hug Remus, apologise for obsessively stalking his girlfriend, and promise to never be that creepy or hurt his daughter in anyway.

Remus shakes his head at him, “Just make her happy, Prongs.  And be glad Lily isn’t here to see this.”

James chuckles, nodding.  “Right, gotta go.  Oh, erm, this may be a little weird to ask but, does Evie have a favourite kind of candy or sweet?”

With a chuckle and a smirk, Remus replies, “Well, she’s always been fond of Cupcakes.”


	6. Prompt List

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts this time were collected from friends and family who came up with them at random. I'm a little worried about their sanity now, but that's neither here nor there.

Bob went over to the kitchen, sat down, and made himself a sandwich.

 

“Why didn’t you pick the Donkey, you idiot?”

 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

 

“He was, the devil in disguise.”

 

___ unstuck theirself from the ceiling and shook his hand, “Pleasure to finally meet you.”

 

“What is the point of being grown-up if you can’t act childish every now and then?”

 

“Is that a Philosopher’s Stone?  It is.”  *Tribor Voice*

 

“I woke up this morning as a tree.  What the???”

 

“You know, Ghandi always said, ‘What goes around, comes around.’”

 

“Magic Squirrels!”

 

“Everything is connected.”

 

“I hate to tell you this, but we skipped like, seven steps.  I don’t think this cake is going to turn out the way we wanted it to.”


End file.
